Keeper or Release, California

Seven levels of real California fishing law. Measure, decide, meet the warden.

Every rule in this game is a real California ocean sport fishing regulation. Each level opens with the rule, the section it comes from, and the date it was checked — 14 CCR § 28.30, § 29.90, § 27.60(b) and the rest. Nothing is invented to make the game work.

Then you go fishing, and find out whether you actually understood it.

SEVEN LEVELS

1. Off the Rail — three species off the pier, three buckets. Mackerel, bonito, surfperch. Sort them right.
2. Measure First — kelp, barred sand and spotted sand bass share one five-fish limit. Every fish goes on the ruler.
3. Spiny Lobster — read the night before you leave the dock, then gauge every carapace. Keep a short one and you burn a slot.
4. Know Your Catch — ten species California prohibits outright. No names on the water. Nobody warns you.
5. How Deep Is Legal — the rockfish depth line moves with the calendar. The deeper water fishes better. That is the trap.
6. The Mixed Bag — thirty fish in four minutes, and thirty is only legal if ten of them are exempt species.
7. The Long Range — eight different limits running at once, and only two of them are about size.

THE WARDEN CHECKS AT THE RAMP

Nothing stops you keeping an undersize fish. Nobody says a word all day. Then the box gets opened at the ramp and counted out, and you find out what it cost. Take a citation and you pay it, and you sit out the wait while the paperwork is written up — thirty seconds, then sixty, then ninety. Go and read the rule again while you wait. That is the point of it.

WHAT IS ACTUALLY IN IT

• A ruler you slide to the tail, because that is how a fish is measured • A rod that loads up and a fish that runs, because a bonito does not fight like a mackerel • Photographs of real fish, most of them caught by the developer off Southern California • A field guide to the ten no-take species, openable mid-level — but the clock keeps running • Marine protected areas, bag limits, sub-limits, depth lines, seasons and paperwork

EIGHT LANGUAGES

English, Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Korean, Russian and Khmer.

Fish names stay in English in every language, on purpose. You will not find "cá thu" on a California citation, and a warden will not ask you about it — so you learn the name you will actually meet.

PLAYS ANYWHERE

The whole game is on your device. No account, no login, no sign-up. It runs with no signal at all — on a boat, on a pier, in a parking lot before you launch.

NOT AN OFFICIAL APP

Keeper or Release is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Regulations change. This game is not legal advice and is not a substitute for the current California Ocean Sport Fishing Regulations booklet. Check the current rules before you fish.